Stuck
by 2pennies
Summary: TroyTracy. “What if I’m stuck here forever?” The question stung the passing time. Troy is in Balitmore, summer of 1965. He doesn't know how or why. All he knows is that he might get through this with her.


**Title:** Stuck

**Author:** 2pennies

**Rating:** PG

**Fandom:** Hairspray/High School Musical

**Pairing:** Troy/Tracy

**Disclaimer:** I am not affiliated with the creators of Hairspray or High School Musical.

**Note:** This is set after the movie Hairspray (the musical version) and after High School Musical 3. I know this is an odd crossover and pairing, but the Zac Efron connection was too good not to use. Not really sure how long this will be or where I will go with it for sure, but I am going to attempt it.

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"Shhhh!"

"I'm trying to – "

"No no!! Not there!! Over here!!"

Troy ran inside her closet and closed the blinds just in time to see Edna open the door and Tracy sit on her bed grabbing a nearby magazine.

"Hun, dinner's almost ready," Edna said. Tracy looked up sweetly (almost _too_ sweetly Troy noted).

"I'll be right there, ma," she replied with a smile. Edna returned the expression and left the room. Tracy heard a small breath of air coming from the closet. He came out carefully from his current hiding spot and gently closed the door as he passed it.

"That was close," he said in a low voice. Tracy nodded her head letting out a sigh of relief. Troy saw the anxiety in her face and felt the guilt rising in him once again.

"I'm sorry," he started hesitantly. "Maybe…maybe I should go."

"No!" Tracy interjected, rushing to her feet and pushing him lightly to sit at the chair by her desk. "We've talked about this before. You can't leave! Where would you go?!"

Troy shook his head. He had nowhere to go, no money, no ideas…no life. He had no life here.

Here in this world, in her time – he didn't exist.

He'd been here for over three weeks now. Here was Baltimore, Maryland – summer of 1965, more than 30 years from his own time and an entire nation away from his old hometown. Troy still didn't understand it, nor could he explain it. All he could remember was a hazy vision of taking a long drive in his beat up truck. He was going back home for the summer after his first year at college. He remembered the heat from the summer sun, the boxes and crates of dirty clothes and barely opened college textbooks. He remembered the feeling of the summer sun radiating in front of him. That's all he can recall even now when he's had more time to run through his history. When Tracy had found him by the side of the road near an abandoned building downtown, he was hungry, sore, and had aches all over his body – as if he had lost a fight against a tornado. He wasn't sure how she had managed to bring him to her home, clean him up, and heal him – all in secret.

Three weeks later, and he still hadn't asked why she had done so either.

The only thing Troy knew for sure was that the kindness he saw in her brown eyes from day one were just as warm and honest as they were right now. He sighed, frustrated and tired.

"Listen Troy," she started gently as she took a seat at the end of her bed. "We'll figure it out. We'll figure out a way for you to go back to your home."

Her voice was soft, and it made him face her with a small smile on his face.

He knew the only reason he was still alive and felt somewhat sane (given the most insane and surreal situation) was because of the girl sitting in front of him.

"Tracy!" called Edna's voice from the kitchen.

"Coming!" replied Tracy as she faced the closed door. Turning her head back to Troy, she placed her hand on his.

"Stay put," she commanded. Troy couldn't help but nod in compliance causing her to smile.

"I'll bring you back some dinner," she whispered as she headed to the door. She gave him one final look of comfort before closing the door behind her.

Troy slumped slightly in the chair, letting his head fall back in frustration. He closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. His mind swam through questions and theories – the same ones he has been repeating to himself over the past few weeks. Was this all a dream? Was it a nightmare? Was he dead, in a coma, in some alternate universe? He shook his head, sitting back up. He felt as alive as he did in his own world and time. He ate, slept, and dreamt just as he did where he was from. He didn't feel dead, and this didn't feel like a dream. Images of Tracy's dark brown eyes flashed in his mind – this wasn't exactly a nightmare either.

He glanced around Tracy's room, as if searching for answers. He saw posters of unfamiliar faces with too much grease in their hair lined on the walls, stacks of records strewn about on the ground, piles of trigonometry and English textbooks were collecting on top of her nightstand. Troy walked over to her dresser. He saw a picture of Tracy with long straightened hair (she said it's been her new hairstyle for awhile now) smiling brightly next to Penny (one of the few names he was able to remember). There was another with Penny and her boyfriend, dancing in the middle of the streets together. His eyes wandered to the picture that he often found himself staring at – a picture of Tracy in the arms of a boy. A boy whose eyes were fixated upon her as if she was the source of all of the happiness in the world. A boy with a smile that looked familiar. A boy with blue eyes that looked like a reflection of his own. Except this boy's eyes had a purpose and a place in this world.

When Troy had regained some of his senses during his first few days with her (after his initial panic and freak out phase), he and Tracy had discussed the possibility of telling the police ("They'll think you've lost your mind, Troy"), her parents ("They'll think you and I have _both_ gone crazy"), and her friends ("They'll think I've gone crazy for believing _you_, who they will _also_ think is a crazy person").

"What about your boyfriend?" he had asked after she had shown him the picture. He noticed her face change to an unreadable expression and realized she had clearly thought about this already. He saw the similarities too and knew she must have had as well.

"I'm not sure if Link will…understand," she explained slowly. "I wouldn't know how to explain it to him."

"I don't know how to explain this any better," Troy interjected. Tracy shook her head.

"No, no. Not you and this problem," she started, nervously toying with her hands. "I mean, I don't know how I would explain why I feel like…_I_ am the person who needs to help you."

He wasn't sure why, but he thought he felt electricity run beneath his skin as he looked at her.

Troy shook his head out of the memory and brought himself back to the room in which he had familiarized himself with far too well over the past few weeks. They had formed a makeshift bed for him on the ground. They had also somehow formed a well-devised routine that allowed him to use the bathroom without her parents catching him. They had even found ways to get him out of the Turnblad's house without anyone suspecting a thing. He had suggested going to the library to look up any information they could find – anything that was in any way similar to what he was experiencing. Time travel, alternate dimensions, fact, fiction, news, tabloids – they had attempted to find and read as much as they could, expecting to discover some sort of miracle answer. Troy had never wished for the ease and machinery of computers and the internet as much as he had while trying to find what he could.

"Maybe if you could explain what an internet looks like…" Tracy had said after he had tried to explain to her for the third time. The confusion on her face made Troy grin helplessly. Through the frustration, she still managed to make him feel sane and human.

Though technology was not on his side, he was lucky enough that Tracy was on her summer vacation, realizing how much harder it would be to find all of this information alone if she was in school.

As difficult as it was for Link to try and act as invisible as he had felt, he knew the toll it was taking on Tracy.

He had heard the lies on the phone she had fed to her friends about cancelling summer get-togethers and parties, to her parents about her sudden desire to go to the library so often (she had said it was to raise her grades in order to get accepted to college which had caused Mrs. Turnblad to cry with joy), the people that she danced with at the TV show that she often told him about (cancelling practices), and especially to Link. Troy wasn't sure what she had been telling him, but he saw that it pained her every time to have to lie to him. He realized the spindles of lies were becoming too much for her when he found a pad of paper with a chart deciphering what she had told everyone in order to make sure her stories had no loopholes.

It made him feel even guiltier for wanting to hold onto her.

It had been three weeks, and she was still the only person in this world that knew he existed.

He heard two small taps on the door before the knob turned – the signal that they had worked out to let him know that it was her. As she walked through the door, he could feel the ball of anxiety that formed in his chest relax whenever she wasn't in the same room as him.

"I don't think I have to sneak in any food tonight. My parents made sudden plans. They are leaving the house in a few minutes to visit a friend of my dad who's in town. You can come out to eat then," she replied in a hushed voice, excited about the prospects.

"Thanks," he replied, grateful to have the opportunity to leave the small confines of the room.

The two sat in silence as they waited for time to move.

The question that had been nagging Troy since he had the sense to consider it a possibility rang in his ears in the current silence.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her face gentle with concern.

Troy wasn't sure how she had become so aware of his emotions. It both eased and unnerved him.

"Tracy, what if…" he began. He shook his head. Saying it out loud would somehow make it a real possibility.

She put her hand on his arm, gently urging him to share. He sighed deeply.

"What if I'm stuck here?"

The two remained still, afraid to breathe.

"What if I'm stuck here forever?"

The question stung the passing time. Before either dared to move, a voice from outside of Tracy's room neared. Troy dropped to the ground and hid on behind her bed just as there was a knock on her door.

"Come in!" Tracy called, slightly frantic by the suddenness. Wilbur's head peaked through the door with a smile.

"We're going to leave now Tracy. We'll try to be back sometime before midnight," he said.

"Sure dad. Have fun with your friend," Tracy said with her signature smile. Wilbur gave her a wink and closed her door.

Her head spun to see Troy lying motionless on the ground. The two waited until they could hear the voices of Tracy's parents growing fainter. When they both heard the click of the outside door, they began to move, knowing they were somewhat in the clear.

Tracy left her room first, heading to the living room and looking out of the window. When she saw her parents get in their car, she motioned to Troy that it was finally okay for him to come out.

Taking long strides, he headed to the living room where he sat down on the couch. Tracy made her way to the kitchen, setting up a plate of food for him. Troy was brought back to the present moment when Tracy set the plate in front of him on the coffee table. He didn't reach for the food. She sat next to him comfortably before speaking.

"If you're stuck here, I'll take care of you."

She said it so simply, as if it were the easiest solution to an even easier question.

Troy looked at her, the same helpless grin spreading across his face. He wondered if all the girls here were like her here. Dreamers.

He grabbed the plate and started to eat, feeling a small bit of weight from his shoulders lifted.

_Maybe things would be okay_, he thought to himself.

_As long as I'm with her, maybe I'll be okay._

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End file.
